Ponyville, morning.
The "ship" Celestia had brought looked like a blimp merged with a boat, a combination that Batman raised an eyebrow at. Just as the princess had said, the first thing him and Twilight saw when they left her house was the blimp waiting for them. Celestia stood at the side, smiling when her student ran up to greet her.
"I trust you slept well? As soon as your friends arrive, I will show you how to pilot the ship."
They did not have to wait long, as Applejack was the first to arrive followed closely by Rainbow Dash. Pinkie and Rarity showed up a little later. The four friends quickly engaged in conversation with Celestia and Twilight, leaving Batman to look around for the final member. After about ten minutes, he spotted her walking up to the ship as well as the source of her tardiness. Scootaloo was with her.
"Hiya again, Batman!" the orange filly said cheerfully, bounding up to him. "So you're going to this temple to, huh?"
"How did you know about this?" he asked, casting a look at Fluttershy. She bashfully hid behind her mane and walked over to her friends, joining in their conversation. Her reaction gave him his answer.
"So, what are you doing here this early?" Batman asked, turning his attention back to Scootaloo.
"Oh right, I have something for you." She pulled some sort of small item off her neck and held it out to Batman. He crouched and let Scootaloo place it in his hand. Standing back up, he saw it was some kind of charm. It was a diamond, with the image of a shield on it. He looked at Scootaloo with a questioning glance.
"Before my parents left, they gave me that charm," she said, looking at the charm while memories flooded back to her. "They told me that as long as I had it, that it would shield me from harm. It's all I have left of them," she said with a sniffle. "So I want you to borrow it while you’re on this trip, so you'll remain safe," she said, recovering her spirits.
Batman was a little touched that she cared so much for his safety. "Are you sure you want me to have it?"
"Yeah, you need it more than me," she replied, her smile coming back across her face. "And besides, I know you'll be safe because I know that it works."
"How do you know that?" Batman asked, a bit skeptical.
"Because, I had it in my mane when I was being chased by those Timberwolves and that's when you showed up and saved me! That's how I know it works!"
Batman nodded at her, seeing how she could believe it would protect her. If a giant bat creature had come out of nowhere and rescued him when he was a child, he might believe the charm had protective powers. If it meant so much to her, he would hold onto it for the time being. He looked over at the other ponies, noticing that Celestia had finished showing Twilight how to fly the ship.
"I've got to go. Wish me luck," he said to her, standing up.
"I already gave you your luck, you’re holding it," she responded, rolling her eyes. Batman smiled at her answer and headed over to the other ponies.
"Are you ready to go?" Celestia asked all the ponies once Batman had joined them.
"Yes Princess, we're ready," Twilight replied with confidence.
"Then get on."
The ponies and Batman climbed onto the ship. Once they were onboard, Celestia cut the tethers holding the ship to the ground. The ship began to ascend into the sky, while Celestia and Scootaloo watched. Celestia couldn't stop thinking about the rumors about the hidden temples. They were rumored to be the most dangerous ruins in the known world.
"Good luck, my little ponies!" she said, casting all doubt from her mind. These were the Elements of Harmony, they had defeated Discord and Nightmare Moon; they could handle this. "Batman, try not to die. It would be a shame if you did," she yelled up at him sarcastically.
"Do I look worried?" he replied.
"Come back soon!" Scootaloo cheered, waving a lot more enthusiastically at them. The ponies waved back while Batman sat down. The ship was built for ponies, so if he stood up he would probably fall off. The boat blimp had a cabin that would fit the ponies but was much too small for him. Celestia probably planned that. The ship reached the right altitude, the adventurers headed off.
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"Ugh, ships always make me-URP," Pinkie gaged, dangling her head over the side of the "blimp."
Despite the fact that the ship looked like a blimp, it actually moved fairly fast. After five minutes of flying, Ponyville was almost out of sight, even for the cowls zoom. Twilight had the helm, Rainbow had been designated scout, AJ would be working on the snacks, and Rarity helped Twilight with the map. Batman couldn't really help since he was too big to stand on the ship without risking falling overboard. He leaned against the railing and spent his time thinking. That was until Fluttershy sat next to him.
"Are you enjoying the flight?" she asked him nervously.
"Why did you tell Scootaloo of our mission?" he responded.
"Well, I ran into her on my way over and she said she had something to give you, so I told her to come with me to Twilight's." She hung her head, "I'm sorry if I made you angry."
Why did everyone always assume he was angry? Right, his cowl was set into a permanent scowl. "Don't apologize, you didn't do anything wrong." Fluttershy stared at the clouds, thinking of something else to say.
"So what did Scootaloo give you?" Batman opened his hand, revealing the small diamond that meant everything to Scootaloo.
"She gave me something of importance to her and I plan to return it," he answered vaguely. "Now, what did you really want to ask me?" Fluttershy wasn't surprised that he had seemed to read her mind. He was really good at it.
"How do you do it? How do you deal with all the pain and suffering?"
"I use those emotions to fuel my fight," he replied curtly. Fluttershy had a few more questions, but was cut off by Twilight.
"Heads up everypony, we've reached our destination!" Twilight called out to everyone. Batman and Fluttershy looked over the side of the ship at a massive forest below. The forest was a lot bigger than Batman had thought it was. He slipped Scootaloo's charm into a spare compartment on his belt to keep it safe.
"Okay, Celestia said the temple would be somewhere around her!" Twilight yelled out, bringing the ship to a stop. The six ponies began to scan the forest, trying to find the temple. Batman activated detective vision and found it almost immediately. There was a section of the forest where the trees disappeared as soon as he activated detective vision. Furthermore, his cowl told him that there was a powerful cloaking magic covering the temple.
"It's down there!" he yelled out, pointing to the spot. Twilight gave him a skeptical look, which he returned with the bat glare, causing immediate obedience. Twilight slowly moved the ship into the "trees" and let out a gasp as the spell vanished, revealing an open area in front of a massive structure.
Once they had landed, the ponies jumped off the ship and gawked at the building. It was at least one hundred feet tall and nearly doubles that in length. It was covered in foliage and looked ancient. The six friends and Batman walked up to the front of it, looking at a massive door. On the door were odd inscriptions, as well as weird markings.
"Twi, what do these scribbles mean?" Applejack asked in confusion. The other ponies weren't fairing much better.
"Okay, I think this is ancient Equestrian," Twilight muttered, studying the symbols closely. "Let's see, I think the words translate into 'I can be silver or I can be gold. I fit into a hole. I can turn and I click and I'm better than any pick. What am I?'"
"That's a tough one," Twilight said. "This might take a-"
Twilight was cut off as the temple began to rumble. The massive doors slowly creaked open, revealing a staircase that went down into the darkness.
"But, why did the door-?"
"The symbols formed a key when combined properly," Batman said walking past them, heading into the temple. "Now let's go."
As he descended deeper into the darkness, the six ponies looked at the door. Sure enough, a key had been formed in the center, which had led to the unlocking of the doors. The ponies then swallowed their own fears and followed him into the depths.
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The cavern in which the seven adventures found themselves in was actually fairly small. It was essentially a square room with a single black corridor heading into more darkness. Batman noted that there was no other way to proceed forward. The ponies however, were more interested on the bloodstains on the floor.
"It seems we're not the first ones here," Batman mused, activating his detective vision. The corridor was lined with pressure plates that when stepped on would trigger some kind of trap. Looking towards the ceiling, he saw what kind of trap it was. Giant rectangular stones were placed above the corridor. So much as touch one of the plates and about twenty tons of rock would descend on the unfortunate pony.
"Well Twilight, what do you say?" Rainbow asked.
"I'm not sure. Batman, do you have any ideas?" All the ponies looked up at him, waiting for an answer.
"From what I saw, there are plates that will cause the ceiling to come down on us the moment one of us steps on one of them." Rainbow looked at him skeptically.
"Look, I know this place is dangerous, but don't you think that's a bit much?"
To answer her, Batman pulled a batarang out of his belt a tossed it onto a plate. Before any of them could blink, the ceiling came down with a CRUNCH, a sound that echoed through the temple. As the ceiling slowly went back to its original position, Batman turned to face six ponies with their jaws on the floor. Twilight picked hers up first.
"How did you know?"
"Let's just say I can see more than you. I also see how I can get across without triggering any of the plates."
"Wait," Rainbow said, causing all to look at her. "Why don't I just carry everypony over one at a time?"
"Because," Batman answered looking back into the corridor, "There is some magical energy in the air that will trigger the ceiling if a pegasus uses its wings or if a unicorn uses its horn." He wasn't 100% sure about that part, but he wasn't going to risk it.
"So how do we cross?" AJ asked.
"I know, we could fire me out of my cannon, then the rest of you could do the same," Pinkie said with a huge smile.
"Batman, what do you think?" Twilight asked him again.
"I'll go across first since I know where the plates are," he began, walking into the corridor. "Then I'll use the line launcher to give you girls a way over."
"What's a line launcher?" Twilight asked.
"You'll see," he answered, vanishing into the darkness. The plates were oddly placed, making it nearly impossible for a regular pony to even conceive where they would be placed. It would take a razor sharp mind to do the calculations to figure out all there possible locations. Fortunately, Batman had his detective vision to tell him where all the plates were. Carefully tip-toeing, he made it to the end of the corridor. He reached for his belt and pulled the line launcher out. He had measured the length of the corridor while he crossed over, certain the line launcher would reach. Turning around, he fired the wire back down the corridor. He knew it had reached when he heard six startled yells.
"Alright, one I'm sending down the zip-line! When one of you has a good grip on it, tug the rope three times! Understood?" He heard a faint okay from the end of the corridor and he sent the handle for the zip-line down to the ponies. After feeling three tugs, he remotely brought it back over. Twilight was, naturally, the first across. She was holding onto the handle for dear life. Once he got her off the handle, he sent it back down. Three more tugs and another pony come down. much to Batman's surprise, it was Fluttershy on the handle. He had honestly thought that she would be the last one over due to her fear of everything. Just because she was the second one over didn't me Batman and Twilight didn't have to pry her from the handle. The process was repeated four more times before the group could move on to the next room.
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The corridor in this room was much larger than the one they had previously encountered. It was also a lot shorter, so short that the ponies and Batman could all see the exit. The walls were what concerned Batman the most. Carvings of ponies with their mouths open decorated the faces of the walls. He had seen enough of Indiana Jones to know what that meant.
"Ha, this room will be no problem. Watch me get across with my super speed!" Rainbow proclaimed, charging the corridor. Batman grabbed her tail and barely pulled her out of the way of an arrow that missed her face by an inch. Batman dropped her to the floor angrily.
"What were you thinking?" he angrily said. "If the last room had traps, what made you think that this one didn't?" Rainbow lowered her head to avoid looking him in the eyes. "Thought is was fast enough."
"Hey, it was an accident. She didn't mean to!" AJ said, putting herself between Rainbow and the bat.
"It's called the temple of TRAPS for a reason. If you make one mistake here, you could...never mind, just stand back," he growled, turning to face the arrow rigged corridor. Once again, flying and magic seemed to be out so he'd have to figure out a pattern. He stuck his armored hand into the corridor at eye level and watched as an arrow embedded itself into the gauntlet. He crouched and tried again. This time there was no arrow.
'So, the arrows come out at my height but not pony height,' he thought to himself. 'That's too simple, there must be more to this.'
He looked at the floor and raised an eyebrow when he saw a bunch of letters carved into the rocks. This was looking like Indiana Jones more and more.
"Hey look at this," Twilight said, looking at some inscriptions on the wall. "They say 'When all are one, under the same sun, all will be free and live in..."
"Harmony," Batman finished from the other side of the room. The ponies jaws dropped once again at his speed. "If you look closely, certain letters on the floor spell out Harmony. Make sure those are the only ones you touch Any pressure on the other letters could set off more arrows." The ponies nodded and began to cross.
He watched as the ponies one by one crossed the room without incident. Rarity was the last to go, making her way across without any problem until she reached the last step. Batman saw what would happen before it did. Her cloak that she had worn ever since he cut off her mane was loose. He watched her jump to the last letter and saw that the edge of the cloak would hit another stone. Faster than any of the other ponies could see, he grabbed her right as the cloak touched the floor. The arrow that was triggered by the cloak grazing the floor missed Rarity, but struck Batman in the shoulder. It pierced suit and the tip embedding itself in Batman's skin.
He quickly pulled the arrow out and scanned it with the cowl. Fortunately for him it wasn't poisoned, but he was now losing blood at an alarming rate The ponies were hysterical at what happened.
"Batman, are you alright?!" Twilight shrieked, trying to get a good look at his wound. Fluttershy nearlt fainted at the sight of blood while the other ponies turned green.
"I'm fine, let's keep moving," he grunted, moving towards the exit. Twilight quickly ran in front of him.
"NO, you're NOT okay, you're BLEEDING!"
"It's a minor cut. Let's go."
"We are NOT going anywhere until we stop the bleeding," she said firmly. The other ponies looked at him with worry in their eyes.
"If you insist," he muttered, pulling out the REC. He deactivated the fire feature and pulled the trigger, causing the metal to heat up. He watched as the metal got hotter and hotter until it was smoldering. What he did next caused the ponies to nearly throw up. He placed the metal to his wound, cauterizing it. Batman didn't even wince at the pain.
"There, all better," he told a sickened Twilight, putting the REC away. He tried to walk out of the room until a voice called him back.
"You saved me," Rarity said in disbelief. Batman turned to face her.
"Why?" Rarity asked.
"You mean besides the obvious fact that you would have died if I hadn't."
"I mean why save me? I thought you hated us ponies and didn't like to work with us."
"I don't like to work with you. You annoy me."
"Then why save us?"
The ponies watched Batmans eyes change. When he spoke, it was in a very low voice.
"As long as I'm still breathing, I will do everything in my power to prevent anyone from dying, be it man or horse." With that, he turned and headed into the next chamber, leaving six awe-struck ponies behind him.
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"This must be the final room," Twilight said, looking around.
"Yes and it is absolutely filthy," Rarity remarked, trying her best to stay in the center of the room.
Batman looked at the massive door in the center of the circular room. This one wasn't as big as the one they had entered from, but it was still big. On it were more of the inscriptions from earlier and resting at the top of the door was an odd red crystal.
"Twilight, care to translate?" AJ asked her friend. Twilight looked at it for a good minute, trying to decipher it.
"Ugh, I can't see all of it. I need more light," she said, using her magic to make her horn glow. The moment her horn lit up, the crystal shot out a beam that scanned every pony in the room. Batman instantly back flipped away while the ponies jumped. The crystal went back to doing nothing, causing everyone to look at each other. After a minute of waiting to see if it would do anything else, Twilight went back to reading.
"I have no idea what it says," she said after five minutes of reading.
"What do you mean 'you don't know'?” Rainbow asked.
"I mean I don't know, this isn't ancient Equestrian. I don't think it's a language known to ponies."
"Then what do we do?" Rarity asked.
"Can you read it, Batman?" Fluttershy asked. Batman scanned the scribbled with detective vision, to no avail. He shook his head.
"Well ponies, any ideas?" Applejack asked.
"It looks like a puzzle or a riddle. I love riddles!" Pinkie exclaimed, bouncing back and forth.
"Well, if no pony can read it then we're-" Twilight began.
"Hi-diddle-diddle, it's time for a riddle."
Everyone in the room spun at the voice, the owner walking out of the shadows. What they saw was a human similar to Batman in a green jacket with purple question marks all over it. He had a matching green bowler hat and a gold cane with a question mark on the end. The ponies were clueless as to who he was, but Batman recognized him immediatly.
"Riddler."